When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street!
Parallel translations
- WEB when I went out to the city gate, when I prepared my seat in the street.
- BSB When I went out to the city gate and took my seat in the public square,
- NKJV “When I went out to the gate by the city, When I took my seat in the open square,
- NASB “When I went out to the gate of the city, When I took my seat in the public square,
- NLT “Those were the days when I went to the city gate and took my place among the honored leaders.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Job recalls his honored place at the city gate, where civic affairs were conducted.
Overview
The city gate was the center of public life, where elders judged disputes and made decisions. Job's taking his seat there shows he was a respected leader and judge among his people. This memory of public honor contrasts sharply with his present rejection, underscoring how thoroughly suffering had stripped away his former standing.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Deut 16:18Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment.
- Ruth 4:1–2Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by; unto whom he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down.
- Zech 8:16These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates:
- Ruth 4:11And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem:
- Job 31:21If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:
- Deut 21:19Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 29:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.